ST. PAUL, MN (August 13, 2013) – Donald Blunt and Adam Seaman made the most of their opportunities in the lineup and the team’s leading RBI man, Brandon Tripp, did the rest as the St. Paul Saints came from behind to win 7-5 on Tuesday afternoon in front of 6,322 at Midway Stadium.

With the Saints trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh Jose Hernandez and Blunt led off with back-to-back singles. Seaman then laid down the perfect sacrifice bunt to move the runners up to second and third. After a walk to Adam Frost loaded the bases the Canaries removed starting pitcher Ben Moore for left-hander Jack Van Leur to face the Saints lefty Brad Boyer. The move didn’t pay off as Boyer’s RBI infield single tied the game at three. The Canaries went to their pen again and brought in Chris Allen. He unleashed a wild pitch that scored Blunt which gave the Saints a 4-3 lead. Brian Burgamy was intentionally walked to load the bases and, with two outs, Tripp smashed a bases clearing double to give the Saints a 7-3 lead. Tripp now has 68 RBI on the year, 12 shy of tying the single-season franchise mark with 19 games remaining.

In the ninth the Canaries made it interesting when Saints reliever Matt Meyer got two strikeouts, but also walked the bases loaded. Jon Plefka came out of the bullpen and gave up a two-run single to Nick Van Stratten. A wild pitch moved the two runners into scoring position, but Plefka struck out Cory Morales to end the game and earn his third save of the season.

The Saints jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second when Tripp singled and moved to second when Van Stratten kicked the ball in right field. With one out Hernandez walked. Blunt followed with an RBI single. He finished the game 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored. With runners at the corners and one out Seaman laid down a suicide squeeze that plated Hernandez.

The Canaries tied the game in the fifth when they loaded the bases with nobody out on a walk to Jared Clark and back-to-back singles by JP Ramirez and Jake Taylor. A sacrifice fly by Stephen King and a safety squeeze by Van Stratten knotted the game up.

In the sixth the league leading home run hitter, Tim Pahuta, hit his 24th dinger of the year, a solo blast to right. Saints starter Cole Nelson earned the win by going 7.0 innings allowing three runs on four hits while walking three and striking out five.

The same two teams meet in the third game of the four game series on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. at Midway Stadium. The Saints send RHP Mark Hamburger (5-6, 3.48) to the mound while the Canaries are TBA. It is Larry Doby Passion for the Community Night presented by Central Bank. Both teams will wear Negro League jerseys. The game will be televised on the Saints Cable Network, which are cable access channels in and around the Twin Cities. Checksaintsbaseball.com for the channel in your area.